"Beyond" by Silvermouse and Monroe Institute: An Ethereal Journey Through Sound
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"Beyond" by Silvermouse and Monroe Institute: An Ethereal Journey Through Sound


Album cover of "Beyond" by Silvermouse and Monroe Institute, depicting a mystical and vibrant landscape that mirrors the album's fantastical sonic journey.
Album cover of "Beyond" by Silvermouse and Monroe Institute, depicting a mystical and vibrant landscape that mirrors the album's fantastical sonic journey.
Silvermouse and Monroe Institute's "Beyond" - A Fantastical Sonic Odyssey

‘Beyond’ is an album that rises with your breath. An instrumental album that plays in fractals of form and derives melodies from genres across the globe. The final sound is as alien to us as it is fantastic; arriving in droves, line after line of colourful sound find a home next to our alighted souls. In the gloom that this album plays in lies its creator, Silvermouse. Together with Monroe Institute, Silvermouse has created a sound, and a way of sharing that sound, which grasps at the lungs and pulls tightly. There is a weightless quality to the songs. They do not move but float, they do not step but saunter, they do not run but fly. Within the sonic walls of ‘Beyond,’ lies a fantastical world, close to home.

The first track, ‘Druids Rising,’ is a welcome, a handshake, no — a bow of a graceful creature. Low synths cut beneath you, rumbling the turf you stand on. This beast bows, you don’t know yet whether it is friend or foe, whether it stands to charge you or stay with the melody now building in the trees. There is no beat, the rain has not started to fall. The shimmer of sound comes from the plants, the animals, the rising moon. There is a grace to the sound, a harmony. Layers and layers of instruments fall on you, keeping you still as the beast stands and moves away. Its hooves create the beat, the first break in the hum. From here the entire world swirls about the rhythm, bringing its melodies in to stand beside the grand creature. And that’s just the first track.

Silvermouse and Monroe Institute performing live
Silvermouse and Monroe Institute

Songs then begin to fall into place, creating the land, giving context to our fantastical surroundings. ‘Primrose was our Goat,’ has a beat as it falls into place, the synth shimmers as it plays, the light bounding, rebounding, off of a platinum coat of fur. There is a new texture in this song, a darkness, something amiss in paradise. The layers of instruments build to drown out the dark in futility. There is a shift, a break in the tone. The song dives into the blackness, beats rising, synths blaring, a guitar fighting against the current. A twist in melody, the drop of harmony, and then we recover. ‘Snake Grass’ calls this darkness closer. Synths that sigh like strings open the song, the beat is deep, coming to us like the groaning of oak trees in the deep. There is a cadence to the track that sets it apart from the others. The flow is determined rather than whimsical, the song is plotting against its fellows.


Silvermouse and Monroe Institute have coalesced to bring an instrumental album into being that sounds unlike anything else. ‘Beyond’ is a collection of images, of textures, of plants, snakes and birds. The album bids you welcome into its superficial paradise, before feeding you to the dark constrictors in the woods. It’s a journey, as all great instrumental albums should be, but here especially so. The mix of synth and analogue paired with the high and airy flow of each song brews an attitude of fantasy into each track. It works and it gets you there. Powerful. A delight.




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